Antibiotic Resistance Plasmids

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the variation agreed in the project "Measures to control the dissemination of plasmid borne antibiotic resistance in food producing animals".

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: All evidence contracts are closely monitored by Defra specialists working with policy colleagues. Contract variations are required if there are significant changes to any of the details in the original agreement (e.g. costs, required outputs, timetable, research team, etc).
	The variations were to extend the project by six months from 31 March 2011 to 30 September 2011 and to extend a milestone by two months, at no extra cost.

Badgers: Vaccination

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the variation agreed in the social science study project to accompany the badger vaccine deployment project.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The variation in November 2010 for research project SE3121 "Social Science study to accompany the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project" reduced the total costs of the project from £630,393 to £384,669. The variation was a consequence of the reduction in size of the badger vaccine deployment project.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Baroness Parminter: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 20 December (Official Report, col. 1668), from which budget lines in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the policing costs of the bovine tuberculosis eradication programme will be funded; and what, if any, other programmes or initiatives will be cut as a result.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The policing costs associated with the Government's policy of badger control, as part of its wider bovine tuberculosis (TB) eradication programme, will be met from Defra's TB programme budget. All aspects of the programme will be funded from Defra's overall budget, following an exercise to update the 2010 spending review budgets to reflect new cost pressures and opportunities for savings and efficiencies.

Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the variation agreed in the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: All Defra evidence contracts are closely monitored by Defra specialists working with policy colleagues. Contract variations are required if there are significant changes to any of the details in the original agreement (e.g. costs, required outputs, timetable, research team, etc).
	Variations to the continuous plankton recorder (CPR) contract have been agreed to enable the contractor to undertake additional research into the CPR historic datasets. This is to provide additional information on a wide range of issues including microplastics, biodiversity trends , impact of ocean acidification and historic changes in fish larvae distributions.

Disabled People: Grants

Baroness Thomas of Winchester: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the criteria under which disability facilities grants are payable by local authorities; and what steps can be taken by a disabled person to appeal if a local authority refuses such a grant.

Baroness Hanham: The disabled facilities grant is a mandatory entitlement paid by local authorities. The national allocation for grant increased from £169 million in 2010-11 to £185 million by the end of the spending review period in 2014-15. The Government, however, also announced on 3 January 2012 that they are allocating an additional £20 million to the disabled facilities grant for 2011-12. The grant is subject to a maximum limit of £30,000 in England and is means-tested to ensure funding goes to those most in need, however, children and young people under 17 are exempt from the means test. Disabled people who apply for a grant which is subsequently declined by the local authority can appeal to the council's housing services manager. If, however, a grant applicant is dissatisfied with this outcome, then they may contact the Local Government Ombudsman, who is independent of both central and local government to ensure impartiality in decisions. The service is provided free of charge.

Firearms: Home Office Firearms Working Group

Lord Tebbit: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of Question for Written Answer HL14014 remaining unanswered on 21 December, whether they were aware on 5 December 2011 of the then membership and work programme of the Home Office Firearms Working Group.

Lord Henley: I refer my noble friend to my answer of 10 January 2012 (Official Report, col. WA 33).

Government Departments: Procurement

Lord Prescott: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in respect of purchases made using the government procurement card by the Department for Communities and Local Government, what were the date of purchase, amount, and supplier, in each financial year since 2006-07.

Baroness Hanham: The details of every individual government procurement card transaction from April 2006 until October 2011 have been deposited in the Library of the House. These include the (a) amount, (b) supplier, (c) date and (d) merchant category.
	Merchant category is a broad description employed by the card-issuing company to designate the business where the card was used not the type of product purchased. These spending data include updated figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08 from those given in an earlier reply, which understated the total level of spend due to a coding discrepancy in the data extraction.
	My department has put a series of checks and balances to protect taxpayers' money, following the recommendations made by Sir Philip Green's report into government efficiency. Steps include:
	routinely publishing all spending over £500 each month, as part our transparency agenda;cutting the number of card holders from 210 in May 2010 to just 33 in October 2011;taking steps to cancel the cash withdrawal facility on the card (apart from two business continuity users); andintroducing new internal checks and audit trails, from pre-approvals to requiring post-transaction reporting.
	As a result of these changes, monthly expenditure on these cards has reduced by three-quarters, from an average of £27,000 a month over the past two years, to an average of just £6,400 a month. I would encourage local authority users of the cards to take similar steps to help generate savings for their taxpayers.
	I also refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Bob Neill) on 13 October 2011 (Official Report, col. 483W), which provides all the transaction data from April 2004 to April 2006 under the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
	I would note that the Department for Communities and Local Government has been the most open and transparent department of any Whitehall body in publishing details of all spending on government procurement cards. This transparency has helped identify wasteful spending, ensuring greater protection of taxpayers money in the future.

Gypsies and Travellers

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities have made within the past three years an assessment of the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in their area, as required by the Housing Act 2004.

Baroness Hanham: Central government do not formally collect this information but such assessments would be part of the evidence base considered by a planning inspector when examining relevant sections of a local plan.
	Local authorities publish their gypsy and traveller accommodation assessments on their websites. In 2009 DCLG officials did an internet search which showed that all local authorities had completed at least one assessment either by themselves or in collaboration with neighbouring authorities.

Gypsies and Travellers

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities have a strategy to meet the accommodation needs of their Gypsy and Traveller population, as required by the Housing Act 2004.

Baroness Hanham: Central government do not collect this information.

Museums and Galleries

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the collection at the Wedgwood Museum is saved for the nation.

Baroness Rawlings: The Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries held a meeting with interested parliamentarians and a group of key cultural organisations, including the Art Fund, Arts Council England, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Heritage Lottery Fund, on 20 December to discuss the position. He is confident that the cultural world can work together to seek a viable solution for the Wedgwood Museum collection which enables it to remain together and on public display.

Pensions

Lord Morris of Manchester: To ask Her Majesty's Government what effect the projected cuts in public spending will have on the pension scheme for police officers; and what consultations they have had with the Police Federation about the federation's concerns.

Lord Henley: The police pension schemes are statutory schemes and there is therefore no simple link to the overall level of public spending. However, public service pension schemes have been reviewed by Lord Hutton who has made recommendations to the Government on pension arrangements that are sustainable and affordable in the long term.
	The Government have accepted Lord Hutton's recommendations as a basis for consultation, recognising that the position of the uniformed services will require particularly careful consideration. The Government have committed to ensuring that any proposed changes to public service pension schemes, including the police schemes, as a result of Lord Hutton's recommendations are affordable, sustainable, and fair to both the public sector workforce and the taxpayer.
	Any proposed changes to the police pension schemes are subject to the normal consultation process with the Police Negotiating Board (which includes representatives from the Police Federation) in line with statutory obligations. The Police Negotiating Board was, between July and October 2011, consulted on proposed increases in police officer pension contributions.

Veterinary Residues

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the variation agreed in the project "Aquaculture sampling approaches for detection of veterinary residues".

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The variation in the project "Aquaculture sampling approaches for detection of veterinary residues" was to revise the start date from 1 June 2010 to 5 January 2011, at no additional cost.